Abstract

This chapter argues that evictions constitute an everyday form of violence faced by people living in rented accommodation, a form of violence that we describe as ‘domicide’. Evictions involve the forced removal of people from their home and since the financial crash in 2007/08, they have become everyday phenomena in a number of countries, including the USA, Spain, Ireland and Greece. In the UK, evictions have spiked with an estimated 170 evictions carried out each day in 2015. The main drivers of these evictions are rent arrears that are due to recent and direct cuts in household income under austerity and welfare reforms, cuts that directly affect the ability of tenants to pay their rent.